Russian conspiracy, names revealed in Montenegro

The Montenegrin chief prosecutor office revealed names of the Russian nationals suspected of the assassination attempt against the country's prime minister Milo Dukanović and a coup d'etat after the parliamentary elections, the Vijesti outlets reports.

According to the reports, the Russians named Eduard Shirikov and Vladimir Popov are allegedly accountable for orchestrating the plot.

Previously, the Montenegrin state prosecution office reported that the country's special services prevented a coup d'etat and assassination of the PM in the early November

The group of plotters wanted to attack the Montenegrin parliament after the October 16 elections, kill the prime minister Milo Djukanovic and bring a pro-Russian party to power.

It consisted of 20 Serbians and Montenegrins, some of whom previously had fought in eastern Ukraine with Russian-backed militants, have been arrested in Podgorica.

All of them were arrested in Podgorica, the Montenegrin capital. In Serbia, another group of Russians were also detained with EUR 120.000 in cash and with special forces uniforms. These Russian plotters also had encryption equipment and were able to keep track of the Prime Minister's whereabouts, the Serbian newspaper Danas reports.

After detaining the Russian plotters, the Serbian government quietly deported the convicts after the intervention of the head of the Russian security council, Nikolai Patrushev, the diplomatic sources told Guardian. He flew to Belgrade on October 26 to sooth the scandal. The Serbian government is denying the allegation so far.

Nikolai Patrushev apologised for what he described as rogue operation that had no sanction from Kremlin.

After Patrushev's visit to Serbia, another stock of weapons was found, which triggered an even bigger anger of the Belgrade officials. This time it was found near the country's prime minister Aleksandar Vučić's home, at a road junction where he usually slows down on his way home.

According to the information by the country's interior minister, the plotters were preparing to assassinate the Serbian top politician for EUR 10 million.